Ilene

Ilene is a Swainson’s Hawk who was found under her nest in 2008 as nestling. Following our advice, the people who found her tried to place her back into the nest. She was found under her nest again and we determined it was because her mother had kicked her out. Ilene has webbed toes, one leg is shorter than the other, and one of her wings is shorter than the other. She cannot fly well enough to hunt and would never have survived in the wild. Her mother instinctively knew that she would not survive and rejected her from the nest. Ilene became an educational bird in 2011.